Siena soccer star Ashleigh Barone leaving on a high note

CLIFTON PARK -- Siena Women's Soccer Forward Striker Ashleigh Barone racked up an impressive list of awards as she closed out her final season this year. The Siena senior, who some say has had "arguably the best career in program history," was recently named a Second Team All-East Region All-American and a Third Team All-Northeast Region Selection.

This adds to the already long list of awards that have been bestowed upon the Clifton Park native, including being named to the Capital One Academic All-District I Second Team and being selected to the MAAC Second Team and All-Academic Team.

Barone says that soccer became an important part of her life at a very young age. "I started playing soccer when I was five. I lived in Ballston Spa back then, so I played on the travel and rec teams that they have there," she said. "I really wanted to play because both of my parents played."

The Shen graduate says that Siena was the natural choice for her, both due to its location and its challenging athletic and academic program. "I loved Siena right away when I saw it as a sophomore in high school. I looked around at other schools but I kept coming back to Siena," Barone said. "The coach is awesome and it's close to my house. I'm very close to my family. I wanted my parents, grandparents, and family to still be able to come to my games."

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Barone, who has maintained a high GPA throughout her years at Siena, says that her athletic involvement helped her stay disciplined academically. "I feel like [being involved in] athletics actually helps," she said. "It keeps you very structured. You only have a certain amount of time to do school work. You have to get it done when you have the time, you can't procrastinate. So I think being involved with sports really helps with time management."

During the soccer season, Barone and her teammates had to balance a full academic schedule with the team's rigorous training. "During the season, we practiced Monday through Friday for two hours and then, on the weekends, we would have games on Friday at 4 p.m. and then Sunday at 1 or 2 p.m. Saturday would just be a light practice."

Barone says that she is amazed and grateful for all of the awards and honors that she has accumulated during her time at Siena. "It's really awesome. I was really excited for the awards. It's awesome that they also recognize my work in classroom. In fact, our whole team has a great GPA this year," she said. "Since it's my final season, it's a good way to go out on."

The Siena Senior is currently the all-time leader in both goals and game-winning goals. Barone boasts 106 career points, which is the fifth most in MAAC History. "They said [that I had arguably the best career in program history] on Senior Day. It was unbelievable to hear that," Barone said. "My four years felt like they flew by, it is so great to be recognized like that. It's definitely a nice honor that some people would say that."

As for the future, Barone says that she hopes to stay connected to her beloved sport through coaching. "As of right now, I'm just playing at Afrims on a co-ed league. I started that right after we ended our season last fall," she said. "Now, I'm going to go into coaching, I'm the assistant coach for the Colonie girl's team. Hopefully, I'll get into head coaching someday."